Finals & Chifforobes

It's finals week, y'all.  Graduate school finals, at that.  Twenty-five-percent-of-your-grade finals.  

Are ya with me?

To top it off, this is deadline week at work, too.

Time to go cry a little.

{PGH Dining} Arsenal Cider House & Wine Cellar

Early Saturday afternoon, we stopped into Arsenal Cider House & Wine Cellar in central Lawrenceville.  We'd been hearing about the cidery {It's a real word, people.} for awhile. It was one of the last stops on our personal Cookie Tour, and I was ready to taste a few of their artisan-crafted hard ciders.

Over the Weekend: Tacos, Target {+ Neiman Marcus} & Tours

After a long week of getting back into the swing of things after a fantastic 4+ day holiday break, I was ready for a cocktail.  A coworker and I planned a happy hour for Friday evening at a favorite of mine in Lawrenceville.  It was a merry group!

Festive wall paper/ceiling.

Decembear

Each year, my Mom had my Dad bring down the Christmas decorations from the attic, and began putting things up the day after Thanksgiving.  The sparkling lights, the bright colors - we were able to enjoy all of these things even before the month began.

I am my mother's daughter, so I decked our halls on November 18.  Looking around afterwards, I thought something might be missing. Recalling my memories of my Mom's decorations, I thought about the holiday calendar my Granny hand-made: Decembear: A Beary Merry Christmas. 

Cookie Tourism

This is one of the weekends each year that makes me proud to be a Lawrenceville resident. 

It's the weekend of Lawrenceville's "The Joy of Cookies" Cookie Tour!  Last year, we were welcomed by the Tour on our first official weekend as residents of Pittsburgh.  What's really neat about this event is that local bakeries take a shop's favorite cookie recipe and bake dozens and dozens of those cookies, which in turn the shoppers get to enjoy. Our plan is to brew a large batch of coffee to take with us, then shop Saturday morning. We can't wait to get a few extra gift items for folks back home! {And, the cookies...!}

The Tour will run from Thursday through Sunday at 5pm. Many stores will have discounts, so shop early! 

{Currently Reading}

Currently Reading:

Home | Toni Morrison

Neuromacer | William Gibson

The Left Hand of Darkness | Ursula K. Le Guin

Pnin | Vladimir Nabokov

Are we friends on Goodreads? I'd love to know what you're reading!

Thanks

This past Thursday I gave thanks for my husband, family, friends, the life we live, and...good food. We were able to celebrate on a small-scale, which was nice {keeping in mind that we'll be flying to and staying with family and friends in Texas for almost 2 weeks!}

The small feast started with Husband making Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery {are you seeing a trend yet?!} Buttermilk Biscuits.

Certainly worth the small amount of work required. It goes without saying that these were the best biscuits I've ever eaten. Including restaurant biscuits. Sigh.

A look at our tiny kitchen counter as we cooked.

{Recipe} Boozy Cranberry Sauce

As we speak, we have buttermilk biscuits in the oven, clove-spiced pumpkin cobbler prepped to go in, and boozy cranberry sauce finished on the stove. As I was Instagramming photos of my cranberry progress, I found that one of my good friends from college said she was making a similar version with amaretto and lemon zest. Sounds fantastic! Either way, you have boozy goodness!

Over the Weekend: Light Up, Inside and Out

This weekend really started on Thursday night, with a healthy version of one of our favorite guilty dishes.

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{Thursday Night: Pasta Carbonara made with wheat pasta + center-cut bacon + skim milk + reduced amount of yolk, cheese; Friday: apricot and walnut rugelach on the house at my favorite cafe; Friday Night: {3} starting off Pittsburgh's Light Up Night 2012 at Rivers Casino, {4} "Circus Candy" dessert at Six Penn, {5} Just before the fireworks at the Bridge Party; Saturday: {6} gift shopping at Williams-Sonoma; {7} Found my holiday party dress at J Crew; Sunday: rewarding ourselves for doing laundry and cleaning the house with spaghetti squash and roasted veggies; Sunday Night: Putting up Christmas decorations on November 18. Shh. I won't tell if you won't tell.}

Of note: It's been one year since I first laid eyes on Pittsburgh.  It's been a journey, but I'm happy I'm here. 

Over the Weekend: Soup, Wok and Soergel's

Friday night we had dinner out at an old favorite, then proceeded to have a busy weekend.

{1.&2. Saturday: Spent at the Bulgarian Macedonian Center's flea market {wok for $2.50!}, and grabbing soup for the road at Soup Sega; 3.&4. Sunday Morning: Husband's coffee cakes via Thomas Keller; 5. Duck action at Soergel Orchard's fall sale; 6. Toe-to-toe; 7. Sunday Afternoon: Using our saved-up 20% off at Giant Eagle to buy pantry staples...and cheese;  8. Sunday Night:  Putting the newly cleaned/seasoned wok to use with Healthy General Tso's for dinner; 9. Cuddle buggin' while working on school work.}

How was your weekend? I hope you're enjoying this fantastic weather!